International Exchange

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Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship | (EPIIC)

EPIIC is a carefully integrated, multidisciplinary program. Through its innovative and rigorous curricula and projects, EPIIC prepares young people for informed activity in their communities, whether locally, nationally or globally.

Colloquium
At EPIIC's core is the year-long, multidisciplinary course on a global political theme. Undergraduate and graduate students of diverse nationalities, viewpoints, experiences, and interests participate in this rigorous colloquium that stresses critical, analytical, and normative thinking. Students are encouraged to confront the ambiguity and complexity of EPIIC's annual global theme through a multi-disciplinary examination of the issues and controversies that the topic reflects. They are taught the subject under investigation not only by a broad range of distinguished academics and practitioners, but also as active participants in defining the issues through classroom discussions, extensive readings, and independent research. There is an emphasis both on individual progress and on the collaborative effort -- in essence, on growing as an intellectual team. Students produce tangible outcomes of their studies through their individual research papers or projects, the international symposium in late February, and the Inquiry simulation for high-school students in early April.

Symposium
The Norris and Margery Bendetson International EPIIC Symposium is an annual five-day public forum featuring scores of international practitioners, activists, academics, public intellectuals, and journalists. EPIIC's symposia -- consisting of presentations, panel discussions, topical forums, informal gatherings, multimedia and dramatic presentations, and workshops -- are intellectually wide-ranging and accessible. The perspectives of the participants are intentionally diverse, often competing, and at times adversarial.

The 2014-15 EPIIC colloquium will focus on Russia and the international order. The 2015 symposium will be the Institute's 30th annual symposium. More information will be available on these pages soon.

Russia in the XXI Century Overview

This two-semester effort will attempt to carefully understand Russian society, its culture, its sense of national identity, its economic and political structure, and its strategic imperatives, outlook and foreign policy, as well as the future of its relationship with the U.S.

Reactions to Epiic

I appreciated the smart and thoughtful discussions at our panel at the EPIIC Forum on "Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism"...The questions raised are obviously hugely important and it was marvelous to be able to listen to such a high quality discussion.

K. Anthony Appiah

Professor Afro-American Studies and Philosophy

The conference was of great value to me, especially through new contacts I made...The spirit of the meeting was, I think, an inspiration for many of your students who, in turn, were an inspiration to us.

Mr. Leonard Silk

Former Senior Economic Columnist and Correspondent, The New York Times

It is worth making models of the future, but we have to regard them as prostheses for the imagination. That's one of the theses emphasized here at EPIIC